Thames Water underestimate bills resulting in lump sum at end of tenancy

erinsg94

Hi all, 

Looking for advice. A friend has been charged a lump sum of £511 from Thames Water. They recieved this months after moving out of their flat, because a new meter reading was supplied by the new tenants, and it showed that Thames Water had been underestimating their water bill (was £180 should have been £307) for two years, being billed every six months. This is partly due to them not updating their water meter reading, but surely for an estimation to be that wrong Thames Water are in the wrong as well? One member of the household has been made redundant since Covid, and cannot afford to pay this lump sum. The person who owns the account is worried it will affect his credit score. 
No letters were recieved by the account holder as it was all done via email, which went straight to spam as it was from a 'do not reply' account. 
Does anyone think they have reason to think they could challenge this bill with Thames Water? They have spoken to them on the phone and they said there is nothing they can do to reduce the bill already. 
Thanks in advance!!!

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

I think the best they will get is time to pay the bill by installments.

It is yet another example, with gas/electricity as well, of the accounr holder not bothering to read their meter when they get a bill. It is surely not too difficult to read a meter every six months and also at least check their spam box.

A 'do not reply' email can contain important  information.

tacpot12

I have to agree with Cardew; if the occupier wants to avoid a large bill when they move out, the onus is on them to provide accurate meter readings to the supplier. The estimation process can only work on data that the supplier has; if the new occupier never submitted any meter readings, the estimates could only every be based on the previous occupiers usage and it would be unreasonable to expect accurate estimates in the absence of any usage data from the customer. 
Best option is to negotiate time to pay.  

pokora

Unless they have proof from the real readings when they moved out and without access to the meters, they can just try to negotiate installments.

Grumpy_chap

Is the £511 the correct amount for the bill based upon water consumption from moving in meter read to moving out meter read?  I assume your friend at least read the meters on move in and move out.
If the bill is correct for the water consumption based on start & end meter readings, there is no reason for Thames Water to really give a discount, but they may agree a payment plan.  Your friend has already had interest free finance up to this point by the under-estimated readings.